Still on Lake Michigan

Still on Lake Michigan

We’ve been having wonderful weather – warm, dry days & cool nights. We really watch the weather on Lake Michigan – you don’t want to be caught out there in heavy seas (or any lake for that matter). The lake is cooperating & behaving herself so we can pick our way south. We’d begun to think that we’ve the only loopers out here, but after sending email messages to the looper network have discovered that there are a couple others still on Lake Michigan.

Since I last wrote we’ve visited Frankfort, Manistee, Pentwater & Grand Haven. All nice small towns with municipal marinas that we really have enjoyed.

At Pentwater, last week, a resident caught a world record brown trout (over 46 pounds) & since we’ve noticed lots of fishing boats headed in & out of the lakes & bays. I wonder if the world record had anything to do with that??? At Manistee we had a resident mink swimming & playing all up & down the dock area. I thought that it was a little bit too comfortable around people & we stayed clear! At one point it was right beside the boat & didn’t leave until I made a Large noise. You know, mink are notorious for being mean animals, but they make great coats! First time we’ve ever seen a mink in the “wild”…..

The marinas have been mostly empty — except when we got to Grand Haven on Saturday afternoon (I had previously told Hank that it was not necessary to call for a reservation since there was lots of empty space). It turns out that Grand Haven has its Salmon Fishing Tournament that Friday & Saturday so there was no room. Lots of fishing boats & many were rafted. We went past the marina, toured the Grand River & found a wonderful spot to anchor for the night. Sunday morning a slip opened up for us & we were there by 10 am to watch all the boats & boaters. Boats large & small cruised by all afternoon & evening. We missed the art show, the weigh-in of fish, the salmon cook-off & the party that followed (the story of our life – we’ve also missed most farmer’s markets all summer & STILL haven’t had any decent tomatoes). This is by far the busiest marina & river we’ve seen in the past 2 months. By 5 o’clock Sunday evening we were at the marina with 2 other boats – back to what we’ve come to expect these past few days. I’m still unhappy that we weren’t able to get any fresh fish!

Hank – “We met Harry & Leslie on Somewhere out of North Carolina doing the loop. He is a fellow retired Navy Commander, but a brown shoe. For those who may not know, the Naval aviators wear brown shoes, while we ship drivers wear black shoes. He flew A-7’s off carriers and we had a lot to talk about. He was on the USS Independence in the Mediterranean while my Destroyer, USS Meredith, was plane guarding for them way back in the 1960’s. Their Sea Ray 34 “died” in Charlevoix, so they now have a Regal express cruiser. They go a lot faster than us, so we may not see them again.”

So, after all this nice weather, we had rain last night, blowing this morning & cloudy so we decided to stay here another day. We CLEANED this morning, so I’m happy. Hank is great about doing anything that needs to be done! We walked up to the very small Coast Guard Exchange to replenish our liquor locker that had been emptied out during our stay in Canada (way too expensive to buy too much there!). We put a pot of chili on & will be ready to leave early tomorrow morning for South Haven – a 50 mile trip that will take about 7 or so hours. Chicago, here we come!!!!

Tomorrow is the first day of autumn. We’re noticing that leaves are starting to change color.